Another Brass Rail
by hbananad
Summary: In Hollow Bastion, everything is run behind the scenes by shady gangs. The top gangs in the city are having a quiet war, one that Xero never expected to be pulled into. Much less find true love. OCxOC, OC-centric. Reading not required.


Okay, yeah. It's not another Lopsided Halos chapter. Sorry. I'm seven pages into chapter three of LH, and it's coming along nicely. It's just gonna be really, really long...

Anyway, A plotbunny hit me, and it needed to happen. I like this AU a lot, actually...

Another Brass Rail is a song by the awesome band Amadan. Go check them out, they're underappreciated...

Xero isn't mine~ He belongs to yoru-no-anokoku, who has no account, but you can find her on Deviantart. However, I have complete permission to write/draw/abuse him, within limits, as long as I show her. Which I have.

The other OC is mine, though...

Oh! And if anyone knows a good Beta, I'd love your input. I couldn't really find any who were willing to deal with OCs...

***#AnotherBrassRailChapter1#***

"C'mon, Xee. It can't be that bad."

_Easy for you to say. __**You're**__ not the one who's just been freaking __**bartered**__ away._

"I mean, there's not a lot they can do to you. Under the conditions. I read them."

_So did I, genius. And guess what? There's no loophole for me to get out of them._

"They have to feed you, cloth you, give you a half-way decent place to sleep, and can't kill or permanently harm you…"

_Yes. It's the non-permanent damage that I'm worried about._

Scowling, I flung another shirt into the small bag that was all I'd be taking with me to my… new home. Heh. That's probably not the right word for it. I'm pretty sure it has to be happy and important to you to make it a home. Residence, maybe.

I couldn't really blame my twin. He was only trying to help make me feel better about this whole thing. But… sarcasm comes naturally. I can't help it. It's who I am.

Speaking of, I don't think we've been properly introduced. I'm Xero Quince. My twin brother – younger than me by seven minutes, and I never let him forget it – is called Reo. Yeah, our parents have a crappy sense of humor.

I guess they're sorta entitled to that terrible sense of humor, though. They **are** the bosses of one of the larger crime rigs on this side of town.

Not the largest, though. No, that honor belongs to the Organization. They're… not like other gangs. They've got an odd structure. At the bottom of the rungs, you've got all their grunts, the dusks. Slightly higher up are the people who serve under the Numbers. Their names are different depending on who they report to.

But the Numbers are the scary ones. Apparently, they got their numbers in the order they joined or some thing, but no one really cares about that. What they care about is that you **never** piss off a Number. They're the top of the ladder. And freakishly powerful. Those who do manage to survive getting on a Number's bad side tell their tale looking scared. As if relating the story will make it happen all over again.

All of the Organization's members have their symbol tattooed on their left shoulder. No one's foolish enough to try and fake it. There're stories about what happens to those who do. There're also stories about those who try to pass off as a Nobody (slang term for an Organization member). None of these stories are anywhere near pleasant.

The Numbers, though, they have another one. A secret, hidden tattoo, in a different location on all of them. It's apparently just plain, black roman numerals. I wouldn't know. No one does for sure. Well, no one except the Numbers and whoever does it for them. Neither are telling.

This all just sorta loops back to my current predicament, though not in the way you might think.

See, my parent's have a… debt to the Organization. Or something. They didn't fully explain. Apparently, the price was what I hope to whatever higher power exists to be a **very **joke.

Their first-born son. Which would be me.

And that brings us to me packing a backpack with my brother trying to be helpful.

Who was saying something. Maybe I should be paying attention…

"… never said what exactly they were gonna have you do, now that I think about it…"

_Dammit, Reo, __**you**__ were the one at the negotiations, not me! I wasn't allowed!_

He must have seen the look on my face, because he immediately tried to rectify his statement.

"I'm sure it won't be bad! Remember, they can't kill you!"

_But they __**can**__ do anything short of that and/or maiming me. And I'm not even sure if it matters if they give me a job and I'm a 'casualty.'_

There was a knock at the door of the room we shared. Well, actually, it was Reo's room now. I'd be who-the-hell-knows-where.

My brother oh-so-kindly opened the door. Two figures in black (cloaks? Coats?) clothing were standing there.

Had I not known exactly what the uniform meant, the contrast between the two would have been almost comical. Their faces were covered by their hoods, but while one was small and slender (he barely reached my chest), the other was **huge**. Seriously. He was at least a head and a half taller than me, if not more, and built like a rock wall.

Unfortunately for me, there was no humor in this situation. These two were wearing full Number uniform. Why two of them were needed, I wasn't quite sure, but my guess was it was just for negotiation purposes.

That didn't really matter, though. No, what mattered was that any last chance I had at getting away was completely shattered.

The short one spoke. "Which one of you is Xero?"

I cautiously raised my hand halfway.

"Excellent. Do you have everything you will need?" Pausing only long enough for me to nod in agreement, he continued. "Very well. Five will show you to the car. In the meantime...."

He walked up to Reo and handed him and envelope. "You'd probably like to know this, being his twin. He'll be under the care of Fourteen. She asked me to give this to you. Kindly open it tomorrow."

_Right here, you know._ I thought irritably. Now, though, I had some kind of substance to what I was supposed to be doing. Or I would, if I knew who the **hell** 'Fourteen' was.

For lack of anything I could actually _say, _I hugged Reo goodbye. It was finally starting to sink in that it was highly probable I'd never see him again. He hugged me back for a moment, before gently letting go. He smiled, obviously holding back tears, and pressed something into my hand.

Five grabbed my bag, and Shorty gestured for me to follow them. When we got the non-descript black car, they took the front seats (Five driving), and I was in the back. I opened the note Reo had handed me.

In his neat, slightly curly handwriting (so much better than mine. But also fairly girly looking.) were two simple words.

'_Good luck'_

***##***

Eventually, we came to the large skyscraper that was the headquarters of the actually reputable company, Never Was.

Never Was dabbles in just about everything. Go into any store in Hollow Bastion, or almost any store in any other city, and you'll find **something** under their label.

Like every company in this place, it only make sense that they have some gang contacts. It's just how the city works. But...

If they were the Organization, or closely connected, it would explain why they had a monopoly in everything, and weren't really bothered.

We didn't just walk in through the front door. Probably because the Numbers who brought me here are still in uniform. Guess they need to keep up their front, or something.

Instead, Five steered us around the back, to a nondescript underground garage entrance. Upon entering said underground garage, a hologram lit up, displaying a dark haired girl.

"Please state your name and purpose." she intoned.

"Five and Six, back from the mission, with new resident." … New resident? Was that me?

Weird way to put it.

"Please show proper identification and classification for entry." Well, despite being completely mono-tone, their security system was very polite.

The two pulled their hoods down. Five had wavy light brown hair that was swept back out of his face. The other one - Six? - looked considerably younger. He had unusually colored (like I'm one to talk…) gray-blue hair that fell over the right side of his face.

"Entry granted. Welcome, Lexeaus and Zexion." So, Six was… wait, which one did she say first?

The hologram clicked off, leaving the path clear. As the car drove, the passage seemed to shift. After a few turns, I was completely lost. So much for getting out.

Heh. Not like I could really get away anyway… this is the Organization we're dealing with, after all.

I followed the Numbers - this time caring my own bag - through even more identical looking hallways, and up several flights of stairs. The whole way, I didn't see anyone else. It was actually kind of creepy.

Eventually we went through yet another hallway and came to a door. Said door burst open just as Six reached for the handle.

"Zexxxyyyy~!" A ball of energy tackled the shorter Nobody. "You're back~!"

Six - Zexion, I guess… - shifted, trying to dislodge the newcomer cheerfully pinning him to the floor.

"Nine?"

"Nope. Not responding till you use my name…" Closer inspection revealed that 'Nine' was about my height, with the oddest hairstyle I'd seen. His short, dirty-blonde hair was spiked up in a style that seemed to be illegitimate love-child of a mohawk and a mullet.

A sigh. "Fine. Demyx?"

"Yes?" He chirped.

"Get off."

Demyx finally seem to realize that he was sitting on Zexion. "Heh. Sorry, Zexy…" He stood, pulling Zexion up after him. "So, did you get the new guy…?"

The shorter dusted himself off. "He's right there, if you bothered to look..."

"Eh?" The blonde peered at me. "So he is."

He poked me in the forehead, making me twitch slightly. "Stop that."

"Kay. But be nice to Lixi-chan, or else!" With that, he waved an skipped - yes, skipped - down the hall.

Zexion shook his head and gestured for me to go through the door, incident apparently never to be spoken of again.

***##***

O-kay… These people are kinda creepy. After EVEN MORE FREAKING HALLWAYS we ended up going through what I **thought **was a wall. Nope, turns out it was a secret door into the boss's office.

And by boss, I mean the owner of Never Was, Xemnas Mancini.

Who was apparently also the Superior or the Organization. So, boss in both senses.

He was… strange. After some speech about hearts, he sent us off to see 'Four.'

So we left (through the wall / secret door thing, I might add), walked down more corridors, and ended up in what appeared to be a chemistry lab crossed with a doctors office.

A kind of creepy looking guy with long blonde hair (his name was Vexen, I think…) did some random poking and took a blood sample, before sending us on our way.

***##***

Note to self: Saix seems like a person I shouldn't tick off.

Number Seven wasn't particularly tall, and actually looked pretty calm, but he still gave off this general aura of threatening.

He had dismissed Lexeaus and Zexion, and they had disappeared to who-knows-where, leaving me alone with the blue-haired, scared Nobody.

"You are Xero Quince, correct?" It wasn't a question. I nodded anyway.

He signed. "I'm… actually not certain exactly how to explain this. Tell me, what do you know about the Organization?"

I hesitated. Sure, I knew what people **said**, but… not really anything solid. So I went with vague.

"I know that you're the most powerful gang in Hollow Bastion. The police rewards on you guys are momentous. You have… 14 Numbers, I think. And beyond that, just rumors."

A nod. "Very well then. What you probably also know – or have at least heard rumors about – is that in addition to being on the bad side of the police, we have a rival gang that's not fond of us either. They run the only real competition for Never Was, Shinra." At this point, he sat down in the not-terribly-comfortable-looking chair behind his desk and began to absentmindedly shuffle papers around. "The Turks hate our guys. And they found a way to get to us."

"Wait." I know, I know, interrupting is rude and all, but I was confused. "I thought they already knew who you were…?"

"Yes. They know, as we know them. It's part of what started the whole rivalry. We're in stalemate, neither can turn the other into the police without getting arrested in turn. What they found…" Saix stopped shuffling the papers and looked _very_ serious. "Our youngest member, Fourteen, is… charming, for lack of a better word. She very quickly became dear to all of us. We tried to hide that she was a part of the Organization, that she knew anything. We pretended she was just some kid Nine picked up off the street – which is sort of close to the truth – and convinced us all to take care of. But the Turks have figured out that not only is she one of us, she's precious. They can use her. It's no longer _safe._ She's perfectly capable of taking care of herself, besides the isolophobia, but…" A shrug. "With all of them actively after her, trying from every conceivable angle…"

"I don't get it. What's this got to do with me?"

"We are a busy group of people. There is not always someone to guard her, and using the Dusks is out of the question. They're not terribly reliable. She needs a permanent bodyguard."

The implication of the last sentence took a while to truly sink in.

"WHAT? There's **no way** I'm going to baby some kid for who-knows-how-long!"

"She's not a 'kid.' You are but a year her senior, for all she appears a child. She seemed to stop physically aging around age ten, and we're not exactly sure why."

Aaaaaand that wasn't any better. Dammit.

Seven smirked. "You haven't even met her. Believe me though, I think you'll enjoy Lixina's company far more than you'd be willing to admit. There is a _reason_ you were chosen for this, Xero."

***#EndChapter1#***

At least one other OC will show up soonish.

Xero's POV can be hard to write sometimes... He goes off onto a lot of tangents.

Anyway, hopefully the next chapter will make more sense. If you have any questions, ask, and I shall answer as well as I can without giving too many spoilers.

And yes, Saix has epic knowledge of what's going to happen. He's the Luna _Diviner,_ for crying out loud...

In other news, I'm living in Italy right now, so expect weird timing...


End file.
